This blog is totally independent, unpaid and has only three major objectives.
The first is to inform readers of news and happenings in the e-Health domain, both here in Australia and world-wide.
The second is to provide commentary on e-Health in Australia and to foster improvement where I can.
The third is to encourage discussion of the matters raised in the blog so hopefully readers can get a balanced view of what is really happening and what successes are being achieved.

Thursday, June 05, 2014

There Are Some Worrying Signs That The US Meaningful Use Program May Have Overreached In Complexity.

John Halamka, M.D. predicted on May 13 that 80 percent of U.S. hospitals would fail to attest to MU Stage 2 on time

John Halamka, M.D., the CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, has never shied away from speaking out on issues he has an interest in, nor from controversy. And in his keynote address at the Boston Health IT Summit, sponsored by the Institute for Health Technology Transformation, or iHT2 (which since December 2013 has been in partnership with Healthcare Informatics through its parent company, the Vendome Group LLC), Dr. Halamka was blunt and straightforward in his comments on Tuesday morning, May 13.

Dr. Halamka spent the overwhelming portion of his time in his speech to the audience assembled at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Boston going through the 19 recommendations of the Health IT Policy Committee to federal officials regarding Stage 3 of the meaningful use program under the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act. Clearly, what the Health IT Policy Committee recommends is going to be tremendously influential, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) prepare to create and then release a proposed rule for MU Stage 3.

But what really got the audience’s attention was this: Dr. Halamka, pivoting off the revelation last week that only four patient care organizations had so far attested successfully to Stage 2 of MU, predicted that only 20 percent of hospital-based patient care organizations would successfully do so. Put another way, he predicted that 80 percent of hospitals would fail to successfully attest to Stage of MU within the allotted time, and that there would be mass applications for hardship exemptions.

“Stage 2 has basically co-opted the entire agenda of CIOs” and other healthcare IT leaders, Halamka told his audience. “My prediction: 20 percent will attest to Stage 2 on time; 80 percent won’t, and there will be huge numbers leaving the program.”